Various industries utilize mobile technicians to install, repair, and maintain remote equipment. Such industries include phone companies, cable companies, gas companies, general service repair companies, and other dispatch oriented service companies. One particular example is a phone company that manages a large fleet of service personnel and a large inventory of circuit loops, telephone numbers, switching equipment, and telecommunications equipment.
Difficulties arise in efficiently dispatching technicians with the appropriate skills to a specific job location. This problem is exacerbated by the continual influx of service requests. In addition, each service request may involve changes in multiple locations requiring multiple technical skills and interfacing with multiple support systems. Therefore, an improved dispatch and service support system would be desirable.